April 11, 2007 10:37 pm

UI browsing standards

There was a discussion about web UI standards that I was part of. One interesting thing we were discussing was about Tabbing across UI elements. In my opinion providing user a better experience is what makes the website stand different. 2 key things I would like to provide on any website design

Although most GUI users are very well accustomed to using Mouse device, we still see many people using keyboard to cruise along the applications. I like using keyboard on user entry fields, using keyboard shortcuts on other applications. Tab is one of them, that I kind of not really like using for traversing the UI elements – however, there are many users like tabbing across fields for input fields. The topic itself was with respect to tab to calendar control and be able to popup the calendar. So there were some differences in the discussion on this topic. Now, my argument there was purely by a naive user perspective. It has been quite a while since I read UX related documentation.

Look at Expedia or Orbitz websites. Go to flight booking panel and tab through the fields. Notice when the focus goes to leave and return dates. That is something I am referring to where on a tab user should be able to see the calendar popped up and be able to select the dates via Keyboard. Well, these sites do not have a specific calendar icon by the field, but I am looking for a website that has a calendar control by the text field and still be able to open the calendar on a tab focus.

Now, to readers here, Is there an online resource where I can find the web UI element standards with respect to Accessibility, etc